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Recent Posts
- A Kinrowan Estate story: puppeteers, and their puppets
- What’s New for the 16th of August: Deborah Grabien’s music criticism essays; new Americana and jazz, and some music for the Dog Days of Summer
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Midsomer Strangeness
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Contradances
- What’s New for the 26th of July: Witches in fiction, both books and film; an Americana reissue and some music on a smoky theme
- A Kinrowan Estate story: chicken pot pieces
- What’s New for the 19th of July: Charles de Lint’s Ottawa novels with a quote from Drink Down the Moon, Gary’s review of Nordic fiddle music, It’s Michele Walther and Irina Behrendt playing Aaron Copland’s ‘Hoe Down’ from his Rodeo album
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Midsomer Odd Things
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Library and Its Librarian
- What’s New for the Fifth of July: Remembering Jane Yolen; some new Americana and jazz music; Fishing Blues
- A Kinrowan Estate Story: Recursive Loops
- What’s New for June 21: Jennifer Stevenson’s ‘Solstice’
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Turkish Coffee
- What’s New for the 7th of June: Foxes in literature, live Balkan music, comforting jazz, Americana jazz, and wonderfully weird fusion jazz; and John Fogerty live
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Bloodied Kings
- What’s New for the 24th of May: Gary’s Review of Elizabeth Bear’s White Space novels, iain’s review of the Lonely Signal Burns novellas by her, she reading her own story, ‘The Chains That You Refuse’, and I see Gary has some tasty music reviews fir us as well
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Our Greensward
- What’s New for the 10th of May: books reviewed by Jennifer Stevenson, music by Teddy Thompson, Americana music from all over, and some live music from John Fogerty
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Walk
- What’s New for the 26th of April: the nature of Stories; some new and newish SF, plus new world, jazz, folk and Americana music
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Spring Day
- What’s New for the 12th of April: Some new and recent SF; new Americana, Norwegian folk rock and jazz; and thoughts on War For The Oaks
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Unified Theory of Libraries (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 29th of March: Beer and spirits, in song and text, some new Scandinavian fiddle music and jazz flute music, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Ghostly Librarian
- What’s New for the 15th of March: some DeLint stories for early spring; lots of polskas, Serbian folk rock, progressive jazz, and Nordic music from the archives
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Hedge Witches
- What’s New for the 1st of March: Emma Bull’s War for The Oaks, Rosanne Cash’s ‘Runaway Train’, Johnny Cash at San Quentin, plus new Americana and jazz music
- A Kinrorwan Estate story: Cranachanh
- What’s New for the 15th of February: Some Seanan McGuire fantasy, Alison Bechdel’s latest, Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin; Nordic sounds, old time, Americana and Tex-Mex music
Category Archives: Music
Kelly Joe Phelps’s Shine Eyed Mister Zen
Kelly Joe Phelps is firmly located in folk and country blues, but he is one of those musicians who are impossible to pigeon-hole. It’s tempting to describe him by comparison with his myriad musical influences, but that would miss by … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music, blues music, folk music
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Various artists’ Holding Up Half the Sky – Voices of Latin Women
Shanachie and producer Daisann McLane set out with a modest goal for this CD: To introduce listeners to the joys of Latin American women singers. They’ve succeeded quite nicely. Holding Up Half the Sky contains nearly an hour of varied … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged world music
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Sandy Bull’s Inventions, E Pluribus Unum, Jukebox School of Music, Vehicles, Steel Tears
Sandy Bull is a legend — if not with the general public, then surely among his fellow musicians. And like most legendary figures, he is both larger than life and has feet of clay. Of his early work in the … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music, folk music, rock and roll, world music
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The Handsome Family’s Through the Trees
The roots of country music twist their way deep into some pretty dark territory. The cimmerian side of human nature has long been a major theme in American music, running like a vein of black coal deep under the roots … Continue reading
Various artists’ Swing West! Vols. 1, 2 and 3
Country music and Nashville are synonymous, right? Well, right as far as it goes. But since the late 1940s, California, particularly Bakersfield, has been the breeding ground for its own strain of country music that stands outside of the mainstream … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music, Jazz music, music
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Hiring Fair’s Breakfast Anyone?
There is a big difference between live music and recorded music. In live music, you are very much dependent on the atmosphere created during the performance. Good live music is created together with the audience, and you play on their … Continue reading
The Flatirons’ Prayer Bones
Sin, redemption, judgement, betrayal, vengeance, tired angels, grinning devils, whiskey bottles and empty beds are the primal stuff of American folk and country music. And they turn up in spades on the debut record from Portland, Oregon’s Flatirons. Mostly known … Continue reading
Various artists’ Exposed Roots: The best of alt.country
You remember K-Tel, don’t you? If you watched television in the U.S. in the 1970s and ’80s, you do. They’re the folks who brought you those “greatest hits” collections by Boxcar Willie and Slim Whitman, along with sets like the … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music
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Sandy Bull’s Re-Inventions: Best of the Vanguard Years
I wasn’t familiar with Sandy Bull’s name when I got this CD, and as the very informative booklet accompanying the CD said, I am apparently in fairly good company. Sandy started recording for Vanguard Records in 1962, and spent 10 … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged folk music, world music
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Väsen’s Gront
Väsen’s roots delve deep – back two full decades, when then teenaged Olov Johansson (nyckelharpa – a type of Swedish keyed fiddle) and Mikael Marin (viola) first met and began to play together. The band gelled a full nine years … Continue reading